Nubia begins to remember more of her past life, as past begins to collide with the future in Nubia: Queen of the Amazons #2, written by Stephanie Williams, penciled by Alitha Martinez, inked by Mark Morales and John Livesay, colored by Amex Guimaraes and lettered by Becca Carey.
When we last saw Nubia in the previous issue of Nubia Queen of The Amazons, she had been buried under a rockslide triggered by a mysterious adversary targeting her and her amulet from her previous life. Nubia, some of The Amazons, and some of the Justice League, had traveled to Brazil to attend a peaceful deforestation protest before things went south. Now, Nubia and her allies must figure out who is responsible for the attack and what their connection is to Nubia.
The issue begins with Nubia unconscious in a hospital in San Paulo Brazil, as Hawkgirl and Bia try to figure out who caused the rock slide. Thank goodness the Justice League found her and not the antagonists. I expected to see Nubia captured in this issue, so it is a relief to see that her allies managed to retrieve her.
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Soon the narrative shifts to Nubia’s dream of her past life as Princess Zahavah of an ancient Madagascar kingdom. After being woken up by an adorable baby tiger named Azuri, Zahavah is greeted by her mother. Zahavah complains to her mother how her father won’t let her live her life on her own terms, but her mother reassures her that he only wants to keep Zahavah safe and that he just needs time. On this particular page, Alitha Martinez’s art and Alex Giumaraes’s colors literally shine as Zahavah and her mother are bathed in golden light in the background. The light not only enhances their intricate clothing designs but also a tender mother-daughter moment.
Not long after, Zahavah heads to the warrior training grounds to prepare to work off some frustration as Azariah, her future lieutenant (and her murderer), arrives.It is here that Azariah mentions that the goddess Sekhmet has her eyes on Zahavah being her avatar. This is significant because it showed that Nubia always had the favor of gods and high potential in general.
Soon a sparring match ensues and Zahavah’s prowess with a staff is shown as Azariah ends up flat on his back. However, Azariah pulls Zahavah down towards him and a moment of romantic tension is interrupted by Zahavah’s father, King Zanil.
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This is notable for a few reasons. In the comic book issue celebrating Nubia’s coronation, it was established that in her past life as Zahavah, Nubia had a daughter named Zillah. Since the identity of Zillah’s father has yet to be confirmed, this moment between Azariah and Zahavah suggests that Azariah eventually married Zahavah and became Zillah’s father. If so, then he ended up being a neglectful father in addition to his wife’s killer, because he has yet to be seen acknowledging Zillah.
Anyway, King Zanil and Zahavah have a talk similar to the mother-daughter one that occurred earlier. However, her mother is proven right as King Zanil comes to accept his daughter’s chosen path as a warrior, literally embracing her while telling her to take care. “Some choices we make follow us into the next life,” he states.
Back in the present day, the Esquecida Amazon tribe arrives at the hospital with Wonder Girl Yara Flor in tow as she asks for Nubia’s room. I like how cheekily she states she is Nubia’s sister after the lady receptionist says she can only give out room info to family members.
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A moment later, Nubia awakens after softly calling out for her father, Zanil. After Nubia gets up to speed and discusses her dream with the others, Hawkgirl asks about Nubia’s amulet half and states that it represents the goddess Sekhmet. Based on this and what has already happened, we can assume that someone from Nubia’s past is definitely targeting her.
Of course, they aren’t the only ones making an enemy of Nubia. A news report shown on a hospital TV has some stuffy white male news reporters saying Nubia should go back where she came from so she doesn’t cause more destructive incidents like the rockslide in Brazil.
However, Nubia and the others choose to disregard the initial news report and prepare to leave the hospital. Just then, a breaking news flash shows some robots in front of the hospital. At that same moment, the amulet starts to glow and react to something right before a robot smashes into their floor of the hospital.
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After Nubia and the other Amazons make quick work of the robot, Nubia hops on a pegasus with Yara to fly down to the ground level and battle the rest of the robots. Becca Carey’s lettering on these pages really enhances the battle between the robot and The Amazons through different colored sound effects.
Soon Nubia and Yara defeat the rest of the robots and a mysterious hooded and masked figure walks towards them. On the final page, Nubia asks who the figure is and they remove their mask and states that she wants the amulet as Nubia recognizes the woman to be Zillah. If Zillah really is Nubia’s daughter from her past life, then the next issue of the series promises quite the reunion. I’m especially interested to see if Nubia’s amulet half reacted to the presence of the other amulet half that might be with Zillah.
Latonya Pennington
Latonya Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others.
